Chapter 174: Unexpected Twists

POV Eliza

Looking back, everything that happened that day was an absolute stroke of luck in my life. Every single event was incredible and unexpected, but I never would have thought both could happen together. And yet the day began quite unspectacularly, though it was funny.

It was the first day of our journey with Hattar, a member of a horsemen’s tribe who had been in the city to ask for help with a problem involving a neighboring tribe. We hadn’t received much information, and I hadn’t fully understood the situation yet. But it was about finding a diplomatic solution, and with Duke, we had someone experienced with us. Bishop also had a talent for diplomacy. As for Leo, however, I wasn’t sure, but since she was rather reserved, I doubted it.

Hattar was waiting outside the city that morning with horses and equipment. I immediately noticed that standing next to him was a very magnificent horse, along with four others. The magnificent horse had neither a bridle, reins, nor a saddle. The other horses, on the other hand, were equipped with saddles and saddlebags. After the greetings, each of us was assigned a horse. Although “assigned” was the wrong word. The horses chose their riders themselves. This led to a small yet amusing incident. The last horse refused to accept Duke as its rider. Only when Hattar stepped in and somehow negotiated with the horses did Leo’s horse switch to Duke and the last horse to Leo. Too bad—the red mare would have looked good with Leo and, in my opinion, was the most beautiful of our four horses.

After this brief incident, during which Duke was naturally teased and laughed at, we set off. We rode east along the road. Numerous other travelers were on the road alongside us. The individual travelers had very different travel speeds. Over the course of the morning, we first passed the slower carts and then the travelers on foot. Other travelers on horseback and the carriages were faster than us. Hattar set a gentle pace so we wouldn’t overexert the horses. I quickly realized that he cared deeply about the horses, probably more than we did. But that wasn’t a problem.

One thing, however, caught my attention right from the start. The horses obeyed Hattar without any trouble, even though he didn’t say a single word to them. He must have had some form of wordless communication—probably telepathy or something similar. Just like me and Ferris. Ferris was a falcon and my familiar. One of the few things my father was able to teach me before our misfortune struck was familiar magic. With it, I could tame an animal and make it my ally. One of the beginner spells was telepathy. However, I had gotten into the habit of still speaking when Ferris was near me. At first, when we were new to Hartdom City, Ferris was with us, and I had talked to him as usual. Other residents noticed this. That’s how the rumor started that our little group consisted of four people, not three. They called him Silent because no one saw him or heard him speak. Since that made me uncomfortable, Ferris mostly stayed outside the city from then on, where he could also hunt.

Hattar must have possessed similar magic as well. I decided to speak to him later that day. But first, I called Ferris over as soon as we had left most of the travelers behind. As my little darling approached, I sensed Leo’s gaze resting on him. Once again, I was amazed at how keen her senses were. Back then in the Colosseum, during our only fight together, she took out both opponents without even lifting her head. I only saw it out of the corner of my eye, which surprised me, and I must admit, that was the first time I was afraid of her. She was like a different person. And the precision with which she wielded her daggers was frighteningly brutal.

In the labyrinth, she fought differently. She was still a very skilled dagger fighter, but she showed no signs of cruelty. In our training sessions before that, she was just the same—reserved and cautious. To this day, I haven’t figured out why she was different in the Colosseum. Although, if I remember correctly, at the beginning in the Labyrinth she was also more aggressive, and only after a while did she become noticeably calmer. As if she had bottled up emotions and first had to let off some steam to get rid of them. Or as if she were hungry and first had to eat something, even if that sounded pretty strange.

I calmly told Ferris everything that had happened over the past few days. I also told him what we planned to do next—about our mission and the challenges that lay ahead. Ferris was overjoyed at the prospect of being able to stay close to me for the next few weeks. The energy he radiated was contagious, and that’s what I love so much about him.

Hattar noticed Ferris, of course, and it quickly became clear that he also recognized what kind of creature Ferris was. This confirmed my suspicions about him. So I rode up beside him afterward and tried to strike up a conversation. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much information out of him. He probably didn’t trust me enough. Understandable, but a shame.

In the evening, we camped at the side of the road. We had no real cover. Aside from a few scattered trees and some bushes, there was hardly any vegetation. The weather remained pleasantly warm and dry. Hattar had packed tent gear in our luggage. In total, there were two small tents, each for two people. The three of us already had some experience with them, and it quickly became clear that Leo had set up tents before as well.

However, there were a few minor problems that evening. The first one arose when Hattar started cooking dinner over the small campfire. He simply took some dried meat, root vegetables, and a little salt and tossed them into the pot of water. Then he waited. Was that what he considered cooking? I couldn’t let that happen.

“Hattar, let me do the cooking. I prefer tastier food when I have a choice.” Betty

“Do whatever you want.” Hattar

That settled it for him. Strange man. It was fine by me. But I didn’t want to be the only one cooking. The two men weren’t any help. They cooked just like Hattar, but I’d seen in Leo’s status that she had advanced cooking. That should mean she can cook properly. Besides, I’d love to eat her home-cooked meals. However, Leo had to be convinced first.

“If I’m good enough for you, I’ll cook, too.” Eliza

“Of course. I’m already looking forward to it.” Betty

“Grant her wish, Leo. She won’t let up until you do.” Duke

Oops, apparently I was too excited — even the two men had noticed. How embarrassing. But I’d love to have her cook for me, so I ignored their comments.

Later that evening, after we’d already eaten, I noticed Leo staring absently into the campfire. She looked wistful, almost sad. When she shook her head slightly, I decided to speak to her.

“Leo, what’s wrong? You seem unhappy.” Betty

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just remembered something from my past.” Betty

“From your past? Are your memories coming back? That’s great. But then why are you so sad?” Betty

“Because it’s irretrievably lost.” Eliza

“What do you mean?” Betty

“I’ll never see her again.” Eliza

“Her? Is it about a person? Is she important to you?” Betty

“Yes, you could say that. It’s about my first great love, which unfortunately remained unfulfilled. I don’t remember much in detail, except that I no longer have any chance of getting in touch with her.” Eliza

Her first love? And it remained unfulfilled? Then I could well understand why she didn’t have all that positive feelings about it. But one thing bothered me about her words.

“Unrequited love is always a sad thing, I can understand that. But you keep talking about the past. Forgive me for asking more questions, and you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. The way you talk, it sounds like you’ll never have the chance to see her again. Did she die?” Betty

Leo thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“I don’t know, but I know for sure that I can never see her again.” Eliza

“Why are you so sure?” Betty

“How can I best explain this? She’s in a place very far away, and it’s impossible for me to ever get there again.” Eliza

“A very distant place? Do you mean where the elves live? I see. I don’t know where that is and have only heard it’s far to the east. It’s a shame if that’s actually the case, but I wouldn’t know how to get there either. Can you say what it was that brought your memory back? Maybe that’s a first starting point for retrieving your memories.” Betty

Leo’s sad expression brightened a little, and she even showed the hint of a smile. That was a good sign, but what she said next caught me completely off guard.

“Thank you for worrying so much about me. You want to know what reminded me of back then? It was your smile just now. She used to smile just as charmingly when she was happy about something.” Eliza

“Whoa! Leo! How can you just say something like that out of the blue! My heart can’t take it.” Betty

I was instantly speechless, and I could feel my face turning bright red. I hadn’t expected that. My heart was pounding like crazy, and my emotions were running wild.

“But it’s true. Your smile is very charming. Your nickname is well-deserved. Your smile alone can charm others.” Eliza

That evening, I couldn’t get a single word out. Leo’s words were a successful assault on my emotions and had left me speechless. Above all, it came completely out of the blue. Leo had been very reserved up until then and had never said anything like that before. I had already realized that I had slowly been developing a crush on Leo over the last few days, but so far she hadn’t given any indication that she was interested in romance. So I didn’t know if she was even interested in women.

It wasn’t until very late that night that I realized Leo had been talking about her as her past love. It seemed to be about a woman, which made me very happy. I couldn’t help but think about it all night long, because I couldn’t sleep. Her words alone would have been enough to keep me awake, but I was sharing a tent with Leo. Lying next to her and hearing her breathe was driving me almost crazy, so after a while I got up and left our tent. I decided to sit next to the dying fire and add some wood. The night was quiet and relaxing—exactly what I needed right now.